Toy railway track clip



- BY 1931; J. c. koERBER 1,804,784

TOY'RAILWAY TRACK CLIP Filed July 16 1928 Patented May 12, 1931 e V H I1 V ,umrasrr PATENT, OFFICE .J'OHN C. KOERBER, OF SOUTH ORANGE, NEWJERSEY .TOY RAILWAY TRACK CLIP Application filed July 16, 1928. SerialNo. 293,000.

I "This invention relates to electrical' confixed and movable casingsforming parts of nectors or clips, and particularly to clips the clip,together with a spring located in adapted to form electrical connectionswith said casings and adapted to move the mov the rails of toy railwaytracks. able casing into engagement with one of the Toy railway tracksare customarily track rails, and I 55 formed of two wheel-bearing railsand a Figure 6 is a fragmentary View similar third rail, which isgenerally located between to Figure 1, but showing the clip applied tothe" wheel-bearing rails. Current is supa toy railway track of widegage. I

plied to the toy car through the'rails, the Referring to Figure 1 of thedrawings,

third rail serving as one terminal, and one reference character 10indicates 'aportion 60 or L both of the heel-bearing rails serving ofatoy railway track which comprises ties as the other terminal of thesupply circuit. 11, On Which are mounted tWO outer Wheel- To connectthese rails with the supply conbearing rails 12, and an intermediate inductors, as well as, in certain cases, to consulated third rail 13.

nect the rails with auxiliary circuits, such Secured tothe track 10,and, adapted to 65 as circuits employed for energizing wayside formelectrical contacts respectively 7 with signals, it is customary toemploy clips one of the Wheel-bearing rails and with the which may beattached to and. removed from third rail is a clip 15, which comprisesva the track. base or plate of insulating material 16, car- 1 i v Theprincipal objects of the present invenrymg a stationary third railengaging contion are to provide 3,11 improved clip of this tact member17, and a movable Outside rail character which is simple and economicalng ging Contact member 19. l in construction, is composed of relativelyI In'the particular embodiment of clip disfewparts, which may be easilyapplied to closed the member 17, is formed of a strip Ii 1 and removedfrom the rails, andwhich will of metal secured to the bottom of the base7 serve to form good firm electrical contacts 16 as by eyelets 20. Thisstrip of metal with the rails, extends the length of the base, and iswid- A further object of my invention is to ened at one end, asindicated at 22, so as provide a clip of this character which may toextend across thewidth of the base. The 5;, be constructed so that itcan be applied to strip at its enlarged end is bent upwardly an tracksof difi'erent gage. A further object around the end of thebase 16, andtermiis to provide an improved clip of this charnates in a rail engagingportion or abutment acter which is adapted for attachment to 2 1. One ofthe eyelets 20 at one end of the tracks of diflerent gagewithoutr'requiring strip forms an electrical connection witha '11sthe-removal or adjustment of any of its terminal member 27, to which awire ter-rea parts. c minal maybe secured.

Further objects ofmy invention will ap- Permanently secured to the base16 .by pear from the following description, taken means of downwardlyextending lugs 33, in connection with the accompanying drawwhich passthrough openings in the base 3 ings, which show one embodiment of my in:and are bent over beneath the base, is a vention, and wherein: 1 memberor casing 34, which is preferably Figure 1 is a plan view of a clipshowing formed of sheet metal bent into the shape the same applied to atoy railway'track of shown in Figure 5. One corner of the easnarrowgage; ing 34 -is formed with a flat projecting por- LL; 'Figure 2 is asectional View taken on the tion 37, which is secured by one of theeyeline 2+2 of Figure 3; 1 lets 20 to the base 16 and to a terminalFigure 3 is a sectional View taken on the member 38, to which a wireterminal 39 line 33, Figure2; may be secured. The outer end of the eas-Figure 1 is a bottom plan view of the clip; ing 3& isclosed by a wall 51and its inner end to Figure 5 is a perspective bottom'view of is open,as indicated at 36, and slidable in 10 and out of this opening is arail-engaging contact member 40, which is formed of sheet metal havingtwo lateral longitudinally extending channels 42, which are closed attheir outer ends as indicated at 43. The outer end of the member 40extends outwardly beyond the channels 42, and may be bent downwardly asindicated at 45 to form the outer rail engaging portion of 44. v

The member 40 is preferably formed from a flat sheet metal blank bycutting and stamping. The outer walls of the channels 42 are formed bybending down the metal of the blank along its side edges, there beingextensions 46 at one end of these edges which, when bent inwardly andbackwardly, form the closed ends 43 of the channels. The inner walls ofthe channels 42 are formed by making and I-shaped cut in the center ofthe metal blank, so as. to leave :two inwardly projecting metalportions, which are then bent down, as indicated at 52.

The lower edges of the outer walls of the channels 42 are formed withdownwardly projecting lugs 48, which project into longitudinal slots 49formed in the base 16, this construction serving as a means to guide thecasing 40 in its movement in and out of the casing 34.

The member or casing 40 is normally biased towards its outermostposition by means of a spiral compression spring 50,

e which is located in the casings 34 and 40.

In the clip shown this spring is doubled on itself andextends throughthe two channels 42 of themember 40. The outer ends of the spring pressagainst the ends 43 of the channels, and the spring at its central orbent portion presses against the wall 51 of the casing 34, the wall 51thus receiving the reaction of the spring. It will be noted that in theclip shown, the spring is not secured to any part of the clip, butmerely lies inside the casings 34 and 40, being confined by' the wallsof the casings and the a base 16.

It will be seen that the clip constructed as described may be easilyapplied to and removed from the track. The construction and mounting ofthe fixed and movable contacts .for holding members permits a relativelywide range of movement of the movable member, and for this reason, ifdesired, the clip may be so constructed that it may be applied to tracksof different gage, wherein the outer rails are located at differentdistances from the third rails. .Thus, in Figure 1 I show the clipapplied to a track of narrow gage, and in Figure 2 to a track of widegage.

Having now described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure byLetters Patent is 1. The toy railway track clip comprising a base, athird rail engaging contact carried by said base, a second contactslidably mounted on said base and movable toward and away from saidtrack, said second contact being adapted for engagement with the outsideof an outside rail of said track, and said second contact having asuflicient range of movement to permit of its engaging the outside railsof tracks of different gage, and a compression spring located in saidsecond named contact and adapted to move said second named contactthrough said range.

2. A toy railway track clip comprising a base of insulating materialhaving a slot therein, a contact mounted on said base and slidablethereon into circuit making contact with a rail, said contact beingformed of sheet metal having downwardly extending side edges formed withlugs located in and movable in said slots.

3. A toy railway track clip comprising a base of insulating materialhaving slots therein, a contact slidably mounted on said base, saidcontact being formed of sheet metal having downwardly extending sideedges formed with lugs located in and movable in said slots, and aspring for moving said contact, said spring being located be tween saidcontact and base.

4. A toy railway track clip comprising a base, a stationary railengaging member carried by said base, a movable rail engaging membercarried by said base, a disconnected compression spring for moving saidmovable member, a stationary member adapted to receive the reaction ofsaid spring, and means for confining said spring laterally of itslength. v

5. A'clip for toy railway tracks compris ing an insulating base, a railengaging contact comprising a casing open along one side, means forslidably securing said casing to said base, with said'base closing theopen side of said casing, and a spring located inside said casing, andadapted to engage iaid casing to move said casing along said ase'.

6. A clip for'toy railway tracks comprising an insulating base, astationary rail engaging member, a movable rail engaging membercomprising a casing, means for movably securing said casing to said baseand a spring in said casing-and bearing against oneend thereof to movesaid casing along said base.

. 7 A clip for toy railway tracks comprisnga rail engaging member, asecond rail engaging'member adapted to cooperate with said first namedmember to clamp the clip to the track, and a spring for moving saidsecond named member into clamping engagement with a rail of said track,said second named member serving to enclose said spring.

8. A clip for toy railway tracks comprising a rail engaging member, asecond rail engaging member adapted to cooperate with said first namedmember to clamp the clip to the track, and a spring for moving saidsecond named member into clamping engagement with an outside rail ofsaidtrack, said second named member serving to enclose said spring.

9. A track connector for toy electric railroads comprising twocooperative rail engaging members, one fixed and the other movable, acontractible spring urging them toward one another, and a wire receivingterminal connected to each rail engaging member.

10. A track connector for toy railways, comprising a fixed rail engagingmember, a movable rail engaging member, a spring for moving the lattermember relative to the former member to clamp the connector to the trackand a wire receiving terminal connected to each member.

11. In a contact device for toy railways an insulating supportingstructure, a movable contact carried thereby, a spring for moving saidcontact, a circuit terminal and electrical connections through whichcurrent may flow between said contact and terminal without flowingthrough said spring.

12. In a contact device for toy railways an insulating supportingstructure, a movable rail engaging contact carried thereby, a spring formoving said contact, a fixed circuit terminal and electrical connectionsthrough which current may flow between said contact and terminal withoutflowing through said spring.

13. In a contact device for toy railways an insulating supportingstructure, a movable rail engaging contact carried thereby, a spring formoving said contact, a fixed circuit terminal and a telescoping casingenclosing said spring and forming an electrical connection through whichcurrent may flow between said contact and terminal without flowingthrough said spring. Signed at New York, in the county of New York andState of New York, this 9th day of July, A. D. 1928.

JOHN o. KOERBER;

